Pot raid on Elams Ranch Road results in two arrests

HURLTON — Butte County Sheriff's deputies found 74 marijuana plants and three firearms Friday morning when they searched a pot garden east of Oroville on Elams Ranch Road.

Officers arrested Reynaldo Magana-Castrejon of Sacramento on suspicion of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, being armed in commission of a felony and possession of an assault weapon. He was booked into Butte County Jail in Oroville with bail set at $130,000.

A loaded AK-47 with a high-capacity magazine was next to the 20-year-old's bed in a tent when members of the SWAT team served a warrant on the property in the early morning, according to a press release from the Butte County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies also arrested Reynaldo Magana-Espinosa, 55, of Sacramento, on suspicion of cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and being armed in the commission of a felony. He was booked into Butte County Jail with bail set at $115,000.

Agents of the BCSO Special Enforcement Unit located a loaded .45-caliber pistol in Magana-Espinosa's tent, according to the release. They also found a .22-caliber rifle hidden under a structure on the property.

Two medical marijuana recommendations were discovered, but Sgt. Steve Collins of the BCSO wrote in the release that investigators think the pot was being grown for sale and distribution "using the guise of California's Proposition 215."